


Social Worker

by Yemi Hikari (Yemi_Hikari)



Series: Exceptional [2]
Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: Brotherhood, Drama, Gen, Humor, Learning Disabilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-14
Updated: 2008-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:20:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24883726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yemi_Hikari/pseuds/Yemi%20Hikari
Summary: After Kelly has been kicked out of the school as principle, a social worker comes to the Brotherhood house to see how much the boys have been neglected... and how much more trouble Kelly might be in.
Relationships: Federick Dukes & Lance Alvers, Frederick Dukes & Pietro Maximoff, Frederick Dukes & Toad, Lance Alvers & Pietro Maximoff, Lance Alvers & Toad
Series: Exceptional [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800367
Kudos: 9
Collections: MinorFandomFest, Platonic Relationships





	Social Worker

Lance was trying to keep things at the Brotherhood in order. Ever since Kelly had kicked them out of school, things seemed to have gotten worse. Everyone knew that they were the juvenile delinquents who had trashed the school board meeting. They also knew that Kelly had personally called Lance to his office to let him know that they were expelled. Word had passed from student to student, then student to parent.

Thus things had gotten hard for the boys beyond just school. None of the businesses around town wanted to have anything to do with them, as they were considered riffraff that no one wanted to run the risk of having steal what ever it was they had to steal, but this made the boys even more desperate and more likely to steal, something that the people around town hadn't realized.

Then came the news that Kelly, what he had done by just calling the school board meeting and trying to advocate for the expulsion of mutants from school was illegal. It had come as a shock to many of them that any of the parents of other students would have cared enough to do something for them, so they figured that it was mostly for their own children's future protection, or more of the X-men, not them.

It was only a few minutes after the press conference yesterday and they found a somewhat changed experience for themselves. Lance was getting uncomfortable with the looks he was receiving on the street from passers by. Todd was allowed to go in and actually get some groceries from one of the stores they had previously been banned, which meant they got some food.

Fred had gone to the park and said that while most of the kids still ran away from him, a couple asked him if he could put them up on top of one of the dome gyms, only to have their parents freak when he left them there like they wanted. A police officer had to come over and calm the parents down. He told Fred to get the parents permission before he did something like that.

That was all in one day and Lance was already refusing to leave the house, as he was having a harder time of things then the others. Todd and Fred could come across as childish in their demeanor, but everyone else saw him, as he put it, a street punk who knew all to well the ways of the world. Of course, all of the Brotherhood could be said to know that all to well.

"Come on Lance, they're surely going to let us back into school," Todd said. "I mean, they have to under the laws, right?"

Fred frowned at this. "Sometimes the laws don't mean anything. I'm supposed to be special needs, a slow learner, but they said that I had to leave town many times before. I was even run out of town sometimes because they didn't want me there."

"Exactly Fred," Lance said. "Just because they say these things, they're more likely to do them for those who are like the X-men, not us… we've been neglected before, we're having done again."

Todd climbed over the back of the armchair that Lance was sitting in. "Yeah, but seriously… you've got to get out of the house, even if it isn't to go to school."

"And receive a major headache? I can't stand people muttering behind my back like I can't hear them that I should have known better not to listen to Kelly and Duncan. They _understand_ about you two, but me… I had to have defiantly known better and was power hungry. I'm not going to get back to school, even though I want to," Lance stated.

"I'm hungry," Fred commented, heading to the kitchen.

"Yo! Freddy, you already ate all the food! There is none! I could only buy so much with what we had left," Todd said, leaning over further and trying to make faces at Lance.

"Knock it off Toad!" Lance said, shoving Todd away and the boy fell to the floor hard. "Are you telling me we're out of food again?"

"What is the matter yo, it's not as if it is a big deal," Todd said, shaking his head at the earth shaker.

"Todd…" Lance groaned, placing a hand on his forehead. "It is a big deal. We're running out of money and we have no more coming in. There is not much more food we'll be able to get. I'm going to be the one in trouble if something happens."

"That explains the rejected job applications," Fred said, coming out from the kitchen. "I found them in the trash the other day. Nearly every single one said no because you were a mutant."

Lance stood up then and stormed up the stairs to his room, slamming the door. Todd glanced at him, then at Fred. "I told you _not_ to tell him we found those!"

"I don't understand why not," Fred commented. "It would have been the same for us."

"Yeah Fred, but here is the thing," Todd said sighing. "Lance feels it is his job to take care of us."

Suddenly they heard the door slam and both the boys had their eyes go wide. Quicksilver stood in front of them, leaning against the wall. "Check to see if she's still there!"

"Glad to see you back," Todd said grumpily, then his mind perked at the thought of who it could be. "Hey, that wouldn't happen to be Wanda would it?"

"Wanda… she's coming, but she'll be here later. I was able to some how, how I don't know, convince her to not kill our father," Pietro commented.

"If it isn't Wanda, then who is it?" Fred asked.

"Esu! Esu! Esu!" Pietro commented, speaking quickly and panic on his face.

"Bless you," both of the other boys commented, narrowing their eyes at them.

"No… an S.W. is here!" Pietro commented.

"A what?" Fred asked, confusion on his face.

"I am not familiar with the S.W. Pietro," Todd commented.

"She… the S.W. is a social worker! She's outside and looking to see if someone is home!" Pietro commented.

"A so… so… so," Todd turned pail. "Please tell me she isn't going to relocate us!"

"I'll go get Lance," Fred said, going up the stairs as fast as he could.

"Hold on, I'm the leader here!" Pietro snapped, only to end up with a ball of slime in the face.

"If you're the leader, then why did you abandon us!" Todd said. "At least Lance has stuck with us. He _even_ tried to get a job so we could get some meals and pay some bills!"

"Magneto…" Pietro commented, only to be hit be another slime shot.

"Magneto was obviously wrong. You saw the press conference," Todd said, storming up to the room where Fred had knocked Lance's door down.

"I'm not mad at you Fred, now give me some privacy!" Lance snapped at the boy.

"This is important Lance… we've got a social at the door, and speedy is back," Todd commented.

"Wonderful," Lance said, sitting up from his bed and heading downstairs. When he got down stairs he grabbed a soiled towel and tossed it at Pietro's head. "Get cleaned up… we have to let her into this mess… it is bad enough already."

"Why?" Pietro commented, wiping away the slime. He then looked at the towel and grimaces. "Why the hell did you give me this filthy thing!"

"Because we don't have any clean towels, let alone clean clothes," Lance commented, heading to the door.

"Explains the smell, I thought it was Toad," Pietro mumbled, tossing the towel at one of the walls. "Still, why does she need to come in?"

A grin spread on Lance's face. "To prove that we have no terroristic weapons of mass destruction of course."

Todd and Fred laughed at this, but Pietro frowned. "That wasn't that funny Lance."

"The point is, they'll come whether we like it or not… if we don't let them in, they'll bring the police with them… or worse, they'll figure out that Wolverine will get us to open the door. Or they'll get Kitty to ghost them in," Lance commented.

"What would you know about social workers!" Pietro snapped. "All of mine just went away!"

Lance glared at him, but Todd cracked a joke. "You probably chased all of them away with your hyper activity."

"Lance…," Pietro said, turning pale, not enjoying the amphibious mutants joke.

"I'll probably get put into juvenile hall, however you guys might be able to be placed into a foster home," Lance commented.

"Yeah… Fred will end up back in the place he was before! No one can feed him!" Pietro snapped.

"Either we can stay together, or they can find the best situations with you guys… that's what I'm hoping for at this point, as we have _no_ _money_. Plus, maybe Wanda can be placed with a nice family. She hasn't been kicked out of the school either, nor have you," Lance commented. He then opened the door.

A lady with blond hair came in with her clip board. She wasn't the same one as the one who had done the press conference. When Pietro saw her come in he sped behind Lance and hid, peeking from behind. The blond haired lady tipped her sunglasses then removed them. "I see that his powers are the ability to move very fast."

"I'm Lance Alvers," the earth shaker said, holding his hand out to her. "The one behind me is Pietro Maximoff, the big guy is Fred Dukes and the last one is Todd Tolansky."

"I see you're rather polite… not what I expected considering your record," she said, watching Lance bite back the anger which was showing on his cheeks. "Might I ask what each of your powers are?"

"Don't you already know?" Pietro commented from behind Lance. "I mean, Mutants are all over the news."

"Give me the benefit of the doubt and say I don't know what your powers are," the woman said. "Are you afraid of me? I won't bite."

"I'm not a child!" Pietro said, snapping and rushing over to the easy chair and sitting down.

"Yo! You just acted like she was your sister Wanda!" Todd laughed, chuckling.

"There is a girl living here too?" the woman asked, concern in her voice.

"Wanda is Pietro's twin sister. She isn't here right now, but I can guarantee you, she can hold her own among us," Lance said, only to have the woman look at him skeptically. "Wanda can mess with our powers, hex us. For example, she can stop Pietro from moving very fast, make toasters fly through the air. Basically she can change the probabilities of what go on around her."

"I see. What other powers are there?" the woman asked.

"See, Freddy here is indestructible, nothing can hurt him," Todd commented.

"Things can hurt, Toad. They just can't damage," Fred muttered.

"Yeah, well….my powers," Todd said, suddenly seeing a fly and zapping it, causing the woman to raise her eyebrows. "Well, you can see what my powers are."

"What about yours?" the woman asked, turning to Lance.

"I can make the earth shake," Lance commented, just shrugging his shoulders. He didn't show his power as so that the social worker wouldn't run off screaming.

"Lance…" Pietro hissed. "Typically you're more willing to show off!"

This caused Lance to glare at Pietro. The woman wrote some things down on her clipboard. "Is it possible that you're trying to make a good impression on me for some reason?"

"I'm not blind to the fact that we're likely to be kicked out of here, maybe even separated. The place is a trash heap and we have no money to pay bills and buy food. I'm going to most likely end up in one of those places. I want them taken care of, including Freddy," Lance stated.

"Or are you trying to make a good impression so she doesn't send you to one of those places," Pietro hissed from his chair. This caused Fred to go and grab him angrily and lift him into the air. Pietro let out a yelp.

"Yo! If Lance didn't care about us, he wouldn't try to get a job to help us!" Todd commented.

"You've tried to get a job?' the woman asked, surprise in her voice.

"Yeah… I did, but seriously no one wants a mutant working for them," Lance commented.

"Your how old?" the woman asked, looking at her notes. "It says here that you're supposed to be a Junior in high school…"

A rumble escaped Lance and he stormed of to calm down for a few minutes. Todd shook his head at the older boy. "Don't mind Lance. He's still pissed that we got kicked out of school. It's unlikely that any of us would have actually have made it through school before mutants were found out, but Lance had the biggest chance."

"Hey! What about me!" Pietro said, still in Fred's grip.

"I'm not that stupid Pietro! You preferred to goof of to anything else. Todd hates school and I have to have Lance read things to me because I can't read. He actually wants to learn." Fred commented.

"Well, federal law states that one can't be out of school for more then three days without providing an education for the student," the woman said.

"Yeah, well Kelly expelled us. That means we have to go to another state to get an education," Todd commented.

"Considering that Kelly expelled you for something that happened off campus and after campus hours, he had no jurisdiction to do so. He had to have something to expel you for, which he did not," the woman said. "What he did was illegal and he is actually facing jail time for that and actually planning to have the mutants kicked out, not to mention many more things. The school injunction was just the first step."

"But he _might_ not get jail time," Pietro commented. "Some judge might throw out the whole thing. Expesully once they get higher up."

"Considering that the press conference has reached national news and the entire Special and Gifted community across the nation is up in… well, they aren't carrying weapons, but they are fighting for you guys," the woman said.

"Why though?" Pietro commented. "I mean, I can understand that the rights of their children would be threatened if our rights our taken away, but do they even care about us?"

"It's because they can imagine it being their child, because they already understand what it is like to have a child who is special in some way or another," the woman commented. "Anyways, let's have a look around."

"Hey…" Todd commented, noticing a bag by her side. "Is that a camera!"

"Yes… it is to take pictures of the place," the lady commented.

"I can do that for you!" Pietro commented, suddenly becoming excited. Lance was coming down the stairway and grabbed the boy before he could start running around.

"Can I ask why exactly you are here? I mean, I want to know what is going to come of this visit," Lance commented.

"Well, first off… I'm here to see what your living are like and how they can be improved. Second, I am here to gather more evidence against Kelly," the woman stated.

"What do you mean, more evidence?" Lance asked, confusion on his voice.

"Here's how it works for your situation. When you were brought here, you weren't just wards of the state. Darkholme, the principle before Kelly set all of you up as wards of the School District. Which means that Kelly, as your principle, was supposed to at least check in on you, which he didn't do."

"So… Kelly's our legal guardian?" Todd said, not happy about the situation.

"No… the whole community is. So, it is their job to have kept you going. I don't know how she did it, but she had the help of some people, including Xavier and an Eric Magnus,"

"There is no way that my father would do something along side one of the X-geeks!" Pietro commented.

"Charles Xavier explained to me that it wasn't a matter of them wanting to work together, but more of Xavier did feel that there should be a place for you. He had to swear off not providing funds for Magnus to allow him to even sign. If he hadn't, he would have blocked it,"

"So, by Kelly expelling us, did he think he could get rid of his problem of mutants?" Lance said. "Because when he called me to his office, it sure seemed like that."

"Yes, but I can't say for sure. Now, let's get these pictures taken. Who wants to show me around?" the woman asked.

"ME! ME!" Todd and Fred both said, raising their hands. Todd was also jumping up and down with excitement.

"I can see you guys being trouble makers and pranksters, but other then the typical teenage problems, I doubt that you're the villains everyone makes you out to be," the woman said. "Lead the way."

The first spot was the kitchen. She first took a few pictures of the cracked walls. She then went and took a picture of the dishes in the sink. "So, why are there so many dishes here?"

"Because the water got shut off," Pietro commented very fast.

"That isn't the whole reason. We've had an argument about whose turn is to do what," Lance commented. "Fred always breaks things, Todd _likes_ the flies from the trash and dirty dishes, so he'll tend to leave it when it is his turn, Pietro and I… well, I think you get the point."

"Why is there a teddy bear on the table," the lady asked, snapping a picture of it. Pietro hurried forward to hide it, embarrassed that it was out.

"Give me Radar!" Fred commented, grabbing the teddy from the boy.

"You're too old for that stuff Freddy!" Pietro snapped.

"My uncle gave me this bear!" Fred said, holding the bear to his face, pouting as he did so.

"Is the bear named after …" the social worker paused for a second, then continued. "after the bear on Sesame Street… you know, Big Birds?"

"Nah, he's named after what Big Birds bear is named after," Lance commented. "Freddy said so."

She then went and took pictures inside the cupboards and the refrigerator, which were fairly messy, the wood being covered in dust and the refrigerator letting out a rotten, moldy smell. She scribbled down a few more notes. "How often do you eat?"

"Not enough," Pietro commented. "Freddy always eats everything."

"What Pietro means to say is, Freddy has a big appetite. However, what he didn't say was he too has a huge appetite. Todd, he eats mostly bugs," Lance commented.

"I see," the woman said. "What about you?"

"I eat what's available, when it's available," the boy commented. They then followed her into the living room.

"Lance… are you sure this is a good idea," Pietro commented, glaring at the earth shaker. "Normally you wouldn't let a stranger into the house."

"Well, I'm defiantly not letting you know who back in here… if possible," Lance said, some fear in his eyes. "There is no telling when they can come back to the house.

"I see that the living room has a busted television and bookshelf," the woman nodded.

"Wanda," Pietro and Lance said together, while Todd cooed sweetums. Fred just stared blankly into space.

"Sweetums?" the woman asked, raising one eyebrow at Todd. The boy had a far away look in his eyes, similar to Fred's, but also different.

"Yo… Pietro may be afraid of Wanda, but I'm not afraid of my sweetums!" Todd quipped.

"Fried Toad," Lance coughed into his fist, but the lady noticed it.

"So… she doesn't put up with his… his advantages?" the woman asked.

"Yes she does!" Todd commented, a smile on her face.

Pietro sped around the other boy. "YEAH right! Do you know how many times  
I've seen you zapped by her hexes? Way too many, I mean, it isn't funny anymore. Plus, you're hitting on _my_ sister. We may not get along, but have you ever thought that _I_ might have a problem with you hitting on her, even though she _can_ take care of herself."

"I preferred her looks before she went all Goth-retro-vamp," Fred commented. "She at least didn't look scary. Now, she looks scary and is scary."

"Freddy," Lance hissed. "When she gets here, _don't_ mention that in front of her."

"I didn't say she isn't less pretty then she was, it's just a different kind of pretty," Fred said. "More like a sister… if she didn't have that temper, she would defiantly make a nice sister. Maybe she'll be my sister if I asked her."

This caused Lance to slap his head and Pietro to speed over to be in front of Fred. "Don't you _dare_ try flirting with her, let alone asking her to be your sister. She is _my_ sister, nobody else's. There is also no way I'm going to let any guy hurt her like _he_ hurt her."

Lance suddenly placed a hand on Pietro's shoulder and then shook it. "Pietro, you do realize what you just said?"

"So, I don't get what you're getting at? You want to date her or ask her to be your sister too? Huh! Huh! Well, you can't! I'll pummel you before you can," Pietro said.

Lance suddenly rolled his eyes up into his head, letting the ground rumble, and making Pietro let out a yelp. "What I was saying is, it is weird seeing you think of someone other then yourself for once."

Lance and Fred then followed the lady up the stairs. Todd shook his head at Pietro. "Man, you should be glad Wanda wasn't here. She'd hex you for saying stupid things."

As Todd hopped up the stairs, Pietro rushed to be in front of him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

This left Fred to give the lady a tour upstairs while Lance forced the two boys down the stairs and into the living room. He shoved both onto the couch. "I don't need any fights breaking out. I already have a headache coming on."

"If you didn't use your powers like you did, you wouldn't get the headaches you do," Pietro commented, only to be slimed by Todd. "May I ask, what was that for?"

"Moron! If you'd been around more…" Todd started, only to be interrupted.

"Todd! Don't discuss my personal business, expesully with him. It isn't as big of a deal as you and Freddy think it is," Lance commented.

"What the hell is he talking about," Pietro commented, throwing a snide look at Lance.

"He's going to pester until he finds out, and if he finds out from Freddy, he won't get all the details straight," Todd commented.

"Fine… tell him your little theory," Lance snapped.

"You know as well as I it _isn't_ a theory," Todd commented hitting Pietro with another slime ball. "If you were around more, you'd know that Lance was getting headaches without doing anything! He's gone a couple of days without using his powers, and wammo, he's got one."

"How do you know he's not faking it," Pietro said, only to have Lance punch the couch next to where Pietro was sitting, causing the mutant to let out another yelp.

"Do you want me to make your head hurt speedy?" Lance growled at the boy. They then heard steps coming down the stairway.

"May I ask some questions. Mr. Dukes had problems answering them," the woman said.

"Ask away," Pietro said dryly.

"First off, why is there whole amounts of different kinds of mold growing in the bathtub. By this I mean there seems to be different kinds,"

"Just one kind with different variables," Todd commented. "What, I was bored."

Lance grabbed his shirt and hauled him up, growling as he did. "I thought  
I told you a week ago to get rid of them in case we were able to get water back up and running."

"Yo… no water to clean it with. I could have beached it, but then it would have stunk out the whole house," Todd commented.

"May I ask where you got this idea from?" the woman asked.

"Extreme Ghostbusters," Lance commented.

"The science guy, he was doing the same thing," Todd commented.

"May I ask, do you do these kinds of things, take what you see in television and run with it?" the woman asked.

"Yes," came the response from the four boys, though Lance was glaring at the three.

"Oh come on Lance! You've done it too!" Pietro said laughing.

"Under great protest!" Lance snapped.

The lady then asked a few more questions. She then asked one final one. "Why exactly is there a big hole in one of the rooms up there, the master bedroom I guess?"

The boys looked at each other, paling. When they didn't answer, she spoke up. "Did any of you do that? Perhaps Wanda did?"

This caused Pietro to choke out a laugh, "That was there before she got here. Whoever placed her here… well, was livid that it was there."

"Where is this person now?" the woman asked.

"She's being contained by the government," Lance commented, frowning and not looking at her. "Otherwise we might be actually ending up in a better situation then we were. Might."

"Alright then… who caused the damage?" the woman asked.

The boys looked at each other and paled. Finally they spoke up. "Tabitha."

"Tabitha?" the woman asked.

"She's one of the X-geeks who defected to us for awhile," Todd commented. "PLEASE don't make us live with her! She tossed her little bombs into the shower… while I was taking a shower!"

"She shaved my head!" Fred commented.

"Can't remember," Pietro commented. "But she did something… oh, I remember… she always stole Lance's jeep!"

"That thing on cinder blocks?" the lady nodded.

"Yeah… no money to get new tires, no money for gas," Lance muttered.

"Anyways… I've made my notes and taken pictures," the lady commented.

"Why'd you take pictures of things like my teddy bear," Freddy commented.

"To put a face behind the picture so it isn't just another neglect case," the woman commented. "I just need to get a few pictures out front and I'll be gone."

The boys let her out the door. They watched from the living room as she snapped some pictures. A neighbor came up to her to talk to her. "Please tell me you'll be getting rid of those god awful boys."

"What do you mean?" the woman asked.

"Those boys… their mutants and juvenile delinquents… they run amuck!" the other woman said. "Just look at this jeep sitting in the driveway! The entire house should be torn down as it is hurting our property value."

The other woman snapped at her. "It seems that your more concerned about your own self then anything… thinking about property value. This place is no where near as bad as some of the places that I have seen."

And with that, both left. Pietro turned to Lance. "I hope you were right about this!"

"Right about what?" Wanda said from the doorway.

"Nothing!" all four boys pretty much said at the same time.

"If you're talking about the lady… she didn't make me lose my temper when she asked me questions. She didn't even mention certain things, which I thought as a social worker she would have. She said that Kelly was going to be in even bigger trouble now," Wanda said, then started to disappear upstairs.

"Wanda didn't lose her temper?" Pietro asked, only to have himself be hexed and the other members of the Brotherhood laughing at him, but quietly so as to not get on Wanda's bad side.


End file.
